Social accountability, antidote to corruption

By Dr. Antonio G.M. La Viña 

With this column, I resume the series on social accountability which I began last month. So far as I have written three columns on the subject: introducing this new governance tool, discussing how it could be mainstreamed, and defining it. In this column, I will examine the utility of social accountability as a solution to corruption, a timely topic given the recent re-arrest of ex-General Carlos Garcia to serve his court-martial sentence.

When we speak of anti-corruption, the popular images which appear to the layman’s mind are that of the “crusading, crime-busting official” (usually the Ombudsman, especially now with former Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales in the office) or the “lone voice in the wilderness”, often personified by the whistleblower (such as Clarrisa Ocampo, Jun Lozada) or a conscientious, compassionate public servant (like Heidi Mendoza) against an insensitive and corrupt bureaucracy. Yet the battle for efficient, effective, and responsive governance is one that is not successfully fought alone.

As the old adage goes, “it’s not a sprint; it’s a marathon.” More accurately, it is a relay race: more than one participant contribute to sustaining the effort towards the finish line. In fact, it is sad to reiterate that one reason why anti-corruption has yielded sluggish results in the Philippines is that we, as citizens, demand clean government yet fail to supply resources to make such government successful and sustainable.

A Conversation with Teten Masduki (Part 3)

PART 3 of 3 – Teten Masduki articulates the connection between anticorruption and social accountability, and the revolutionary potential of people who are empowered to access and use information. He concludes with a vision of what he hopes to be able to do for and with Indonesia and the rest of the region in the next few years. Read part 1 and part 2

ANSA-EAP: I am sure you’re a board member of a lot of international organizations. What attracted you to ANSA-EAP, a relatively small effort?

Teten Masduki: ANSA-EAP’s concept is interesting to me. How do you engage society—from the government to the business sector and so on? I think ANSA-EAP’s idea to build and strengthen engagement between civil society and government is good. Civil society should be strong, have good capacity, knowledge, methodology. In my opinion, corruption is not only because of the government. We can establish an anticorruption commission or reform the Attorney-General’s office or the police, reform the bureaucracy but this will not be enough. Corruption will still be prevalent. Corruption is, after all, premised on the unbalanced relationship between society, government and the business.  When the government is too strong and the society is weak, corruption is very high.  So, I think ANSA-EAP’s social accountability perspective is helpful in equalizing and balancing this relationship.

A Conversation with Teten Masduki (Part 2)

In this second installment of a three-part interview, Teten Masduki shares the value of multistakeholder coalitions in his experience of championing reform work, and his desire to influence a wider audience to support the anticorruption movement.  Read part 1, and part 3


ANSA-EAP: From Legal Aid work, what attracted you to Indonesia Corruption Watch?

Teten Masduki:  [Indonesia Corruption Watch] was set up in Suharto’s time. I thought that the problem of our democracy was corruption. Democracy was coming, was underway, but I believe democracy alone is not enough to improve social welfare. From my experience as a labor activist, I knew very well that the problem of corruption was also in the industrial sector. At the time, labor cost was just 4 to 11 percent of the total cost, and the invisible cost was more than 20 percent. So, corruption pushed the lamentable labor condition further. Employers have no choice but to pay the military and local governments bribes. I dreamed that when I finish my work on the labor process, when we have new democratic capabilities, we could establish an anticorruption movement. But I couldn’t implement my dream during Suharto’s time.

A Conversation with Teten Masduki (Part 1)

This is the first installment of the "Conversations with the ANSA-EAP Executive Committee series", that feature individual Executive Committee members sharing their various advocacies and how these relate to social accountability. In this interview, Teten Masduki shares the early days of his advocacy work—from student activism during the Suharto regime to teaching students, and labor workers.

He sits quietly on a lone chair as our crew of two sets up in the villa-turned-makeshift studio. Hands folded neatly into each other on his lap, he’s the picture of calm and anonymity. Truth be told, had he chosen a different path, it would be hard to pick him among a sea of his fellow Indonesians.

ANSA-EAP Executive Committee member and Transparency International-Indonesia Secretary-General Teten Masduki, however, has long turned his back from a life of quiet and obscurity.

For instance, instead of teaching Chemistry to high school students in Indonesia—as was his original plan—he’s spending this particular Friday morning revving up for an interview on his ongoing and sometimes thankless fight against corruption in Indonesia and East Asia. At 47, Teten has made his good governance advocacy a life-long career and dream. A vision that is, in his experience, fraught with more than its fair share of hurdles. A fight that, for him, transcends national boundaries and can only be triumphant through the cooperation of the government, private and civil society sectors.